W11 in the 70s.  Chapter 11: W11 and politics in the seventies

London W11 was a pool of political activity in the seventies. In an atmosphere of faded elegance there was much creativity and political action. There was a mix of races with many people from Afro-Caribbean countries with their colourful way of life. The area was also very poor and there was much inequality. From this emerged the political group the Black Panthers. Then there were the Women’s Liberation groups, socialists, marxists and Lesbian radical feminists, together with all the gay men who held weekly meetings in All Saints’ church hall. Most of the gay political activists lived in W11, and I lived right in the middle of it all.  The whole area was full of writers, artists, dancers, musicians and intellectuals. Heathcote Williams the poet, for example, who wrote "The Whale", lived in Powis Square.  There were street theatres, buskers, and you could go to the Elgin pub on Saturday night to hear live music and political satire. There was of course the Electric Cinema, and Portobello Road itself with its open air market. The whole place had a vibrant energy where people knew each other and often helped each other in different ways. The Powis Square play area came about because the local people fought for it to be a public space for children. The housing situation was terrible. Most people lived in one room if they were lucky, so many people began to squat in the many empty houses, which again became a political act. I remember one occasion when the Kensington and Chelsea council members were invited to a meeting in All Saints’ church hall. There were heated discussions, and when the councillors did not give assurances that there would be changes to help the people in the area, the doors were closed and no one could leave.  I was locked inside with all the others for hours. The police came and couldn’t get in, and also by this time the press had found their way to west London. It was early in the morning that the doors were finally opened. The political people I knew did not just talk, they acted on their beliefs.

There were so many people around W11 then, all in their own way trying to make the world a better place. As well as Rachel, Bob Mellors, Edith, and myself and Bobby, there were Paul Theobald who later worked in aids charities; Bette Bourne of Queer Theatre and Bloolips; Rex Lay, painter; Barbara Kletztky; Peter Tatchell; Denis Lemmon of Gay News; Aubrey Walter; Tony Allan of street theatre; Angela Weir now Angela Mason, now working for Blair; Elizabeth Wilson; Richard, Julia, Chris, Lorna, Alison; Cloud, Tree, Brook (because they wanted names free of gender), and countless others going to GLF meetings, so many that I’ve lost count.

There was always something going on. Posters and placards for demonstrations had to be made, articles written, fly posting, political graffiti, GLF politics, the women’s movement; these together with all the others including the black political movements made W11 a place of great vitality. Many people often said that their phones were being tapped by the police. I do not know if that is correct, but I do know that there were very many policemen at the demonstration marches. At one of these political events I remember that a gay man in drag kissed a policeman and was arrested for assault, and on another a policeman scratched his arm on one of the bracelets of a gay man and this gay man was charged with assault. There were demonstrations in pubs and bookshops. Gay people went on buses and the tube, often gay men wearing women’s clothes, carrying placards, distributing leaflets, and often kissing someone of the same sex as a political act. There was always someone who had been arrested and needed to be bailed out. Also it was said that it was wise always to carry a solicitor’s telephone number with you so that if you were arrested you had a solicitor at hand. The law centre in Golborne Road was often used for this.

Most of all I knew all the people in Gay Liberation Front and in Women’s Liberation Front politics. It was here that gay politics really took off. Gay men walked along the streets and down the Portobello Road in full drag. The hippie culture thrived and interacted with the gay culture. Weed and dope were widely used and LSD was taken for heightened awareness, and especially to break down fixed gender roles. Don Juan and The Doors of Perception was widely read, and of course all the music of the seventies was played everywhere. There were communes and squats everywhere and people drifted into the area, many from abroad, to be part of the scene.   London W11 in the 70s. 12. Conclusion